Hiking is certainly an essential part of the outdoor journey. You may be faced with a variety of natural environments to hike through.
If you can master the hiking skills in the face of different road surfaces, you can save more energy during the course, and more importantly, you can avoid unnecessary damage to your body. Today, we are going to give you some tips on how to hike on these 7 common types of surfaces.
1. Slate pavementPavement characteristics
This kind of pavement is mainly found in stone cliffs, steep cliffs or stone faults, the bedrock outcrops of the mountain, or formed by the whole stone surface, or formed by multiple stone surface, there are also artificially paved stone slab pavement. Because the road is smooth and mossy, it is easy to slip, and once the rain and snow are encountered, accidents are likely to occur, with minor falls, broken feet, and serious fractures and injuries.
Walking experience
After the rain, in addition to wearing non-slip shoes when going up the mountain, the mood should be relaxed. When walking, the center of gravity should not be too far forward, the direction of gravity should be perpendicular to the ground slab, and try to use hiking poles. When carrying a large bag, the center of gravity of the bag should be down in the middle, and try to hold the rock wall or trees with your hands. When descending, be sure to use trekking poles and lean slightly forward with your center of gravity. Try to put your feet in the gaps between the slabs or on the grass and trees along the road. A bit of distance between two people should be kept apart to avoid shoveling down several after one person has fallen.
After the snow, such as professional equipment, it is best to use the four-tooth ice claws, if there is no professional equipment, feet must land on the roots of roadside trees or grass, trekking poles essential, of course, no trekking poles can also look for a suitable length of size of branches, sticks instead.
2. Skipping stone pavementPavement characteristics
The so-called "road" is mainly formed by the valley gully through long-term rain and flash floods. Or there is a road but the surrounding is farmland, farmers in farming will be sorted out in the ground stone thrown, piled up on the road, in the long run will make a road becomes a stone road of different sizes, walking on this kind of road, need to jump on the stone to jump forward, fine yarn, creek, boulders staggered, "kill" four ambush.
Walking experience
Overcoming the fear of skipping rocks is the main thing, which requires concentration. During the rainy season, don't go rock hopping in the canyon before or just after the heavy rain, and beware of flash floods. Prepare a pair of hiking shoes with thicker and harder soles, check if the shoelaces are loose before rock jumping, and then tighten the backpack straps and belt so that the backpack is tight against your back to avoid losing your footing due to backpack shaking and unstable center of gravity when jumping. When walking on the rock jumping road, you should pay attention to the situation in front of you and accurately judge the next landing point, and pay attention to the dark marks left on certain rocks as long-term landing points. In addition, be sure to clean the soles of your shoes, if the soles of your shoes are stuck with sand, you should be careful of your knees and incisors.
3. Dirt pavementPavement characteristics
This kind of pavement is the most common, formed mainly because of the weathering of stones and the ground without vegetation cover formed by people's long time trampling. Maybe you think this is the best road to walk, there is nothing to pay attention to! That is such an idea is very wrong. During the rainy season, this kind of road is the legendary muddy road, which is very easy to fall and hurt your knees.
Walking experience
After a heavy rain, the surface of the dirt road has been dried out, but in fact has absorbed enough moisture, this time when going up and down the mountain is very easy to be dangerous, when walking on this road must be the sole of the shoe to grip the ground, to make full use of hiking poles as a pivot point, so as not to pay attention to a foot stepped into the deep mud. In addition, the temperature difference between day and night in spring and autumn, after the rain and snow days, the dirt road surface is very easy to ice, the risk factor is relatively high, when encountering this situation up and down the mountain to make full use of the trekking poles and can climbing things, pay attention to climbing objects to ensure that the fulcrum is solid, this is very important.
4. BushesRoad surface characteristics
Bush includes many kinds of bushes, which can be roughly divided into natural bushes and plantation bushes. Natural bushes are mainly distributed in the dense jungle, more types of shrubs and lower, generally slippery and soft soil, there may be swamps, more dangerous; artificial forestation bushes are mainly distributed in the drier climate of the foothills slopes, is artificially planted to prevent wind and soil, the location of the general soil is dry, containing more stone and sand, seemingly hard in fact, a step on the slippery.
Walking experience
Take glasses, hat, pull on the zipper of the rushing jacket, and keep at least 1.5 meters distance between teammates to prevent the bouncing back of the branches brought down by the teammates in front from hurting themselves. Always remind your teammates behind you that it is easy to get lost if you are too far away! When hiking through natural bushes, it is best to have auxiliary equipment and an experienced leader or local guide to explore the way first, to pay attention to the bushes with more short thorns, more mosquitoes, it is recommended to wear high-top non-slip soles, large grain and deep bump jungle boots, to wear long sleeves, long pants, pay attention to the protection of the face. Plantation bushes than natural bushes bushes high and thorny, it is recommended to prepare gloves (preferably leather), long-sleeved high-necked anti-scratch clothing and pants and non-slip grip ability good hiking shoes, in hiking such bushes try to take the soil is not slippery, wider road, it is best to hold the branch fresh and can support the hand force of the live branches, change hands to hold the branch to be firm, landing should be stable and slow.
Road characteristics
Snowy roads are formed by snow, and the situation can be very complicated because of the snow cover, which makes it impossible to judge the terrain and road conditions. Snow leads to slippery, resistance, walking inconvenience.
Walking experience
When walking in the snow, or walking on the ground where the snow has been accumulated for a long time, it is most important to keep your stride small and maintain a fixed pace, and walk rhythmically by your own pace. Marching on snow, to pick the snow hard place to walk. When walking on soft snow for a long time, take big steps to shorten the time spent walking in the snow. When marching, you should first put your feet back a little, and then lift your feet upward to take a big step forward. Feet back is to make snowshoes before there is room to move, forward when you step forward can also play a role in whisking away the attached snow.
6. Mountain walkingRoad surface characteristics
Mountainous areas often consist of undulating hills or gullies, interspersed with creeks, cliffs or wooded areas. The paths are often complex, and there may be rocky paths, dirt paths, skipping rocks, thickets, etc., which require a combination of hiking skills.
Walking experience
In order to avoid losing your way, save your energy and improve your speed, you should try to have a road instead of going through the forest and over the mountain, and to have a big road instead of a small one. If there is no road, you can choose in the longitudinal beams, ridges, hillsides, rivers and streams edge, as well as high trees, forests, large gaps, low grass sparse terrain marching. Generally do not go longitudinal depth of the deep ditch canyon and grass, rattan and bamboo intertwined places, and strive to take the beam does not go ditch, go longitudinal not horizontal.
Marching should follow the principle of big steps, the mountain is also the same. If the stride width is increased, three steps and two steps, dozens of kilometers down, you can take many steps less, saving a lot of energy. When fatigue, the application of relaxed slow walking to rest, and do not stop, stand for a minute, slow walking can be out of dozens of meters.
Mountain walking, often encounter a variety of rocky slopes and steep walls. Therefore, climbing rocks is the main skill of mountain climbing. Before climbing rocks, you should observe the rocks carefully, carefully identify the quality and weathering degree of the rocks, and then determine the direction of climbing and the route through. The most basic method of rock climbing is the "three-point fixed" method, which requires the climber's hands and feet to be able to do well with the action. After two hands and one foot or two feet and one hand fixed, then move the other point, so that the body's center of gravity gradually rise. The use of this method, to prevent jumping and jumping, and avoid two points at the same time to move, and must be stable, light, fast, according to their own situation, choose the most appropriate distance and the most stable pivot point, do not cross the big step and grab, stomp too far away from the point.
Mountain marching do not overestimate their physical strength, fatigue, it should be the right time to rest. Do not walk until you are almost exhausted before resting, it is not easy to recover the strength, and then walk can not raise the energy. The correct method is to walk in large strides, and then relax and walk slowly for a while, or stop to rest for a while to adjust breathing. When you stand to rest, don't unload your backpack, you can support a wooden stick under your backpack to reduce the weight of your body. If the weather is cold, do not sit on a stone to rest, the stone will quickly absorb the body's heat.
7.River crossing
Road characteristics
River crossing is a possible problem in outdoor hiking. Usually we can rely on the map to determine whether there are big rivers in the crossing area, but in the more complex terrain, especially in areas with large elevation differences and strongly cut river valleys, a seemingly small stream often becomes an obstacle to crossing, and in the season of heavy rainfall, a small gully that could not constitute a deterrent may become a big river with a huge flood. Therefore crossing a river must be carefully chosen to cross the river location.
Walking experience
It is best to look for bridges to cross or ask locals about their locations, and be prepared to cross rivers on foot only as a last resort. When crossing a river, the first thing to do is to carefully observe the water flow. If the water is slow, choose a shallow crossing and land on a bank where it is easy to get to. In the waterfall directly above or next to the river, the river is usually deeper, and the amount of water, should never be crossed. Upstream where the river is narrower, a trip across may be possible - but first use a pole to test the depth of the river. There may be rocks to land on, or you can artificially place rocks to help you cross the river. Rivers are usually choppy and wide outside the river triangle bay, and some rivers are even subject to tides, so don't cross at them. Unless a raft or pontoon boat is available, you should still head upstream to find a suitable section of river to cross. In wide rivers, when you have no choice but to have the conditions and ability, you can tie up a pontoon and swim across the river.
Only when the river is very shallow, only will get wet shoes and socks, you can consider wading across the river. Wading across the river generally to use the diagonal river crossing, that is, to the shore target set in the downstream direction. Crossing the river itself is a very dangerous thing, should wear socks dragging feet wading through the water. In addition, take a crutch, in the upstream easier to achieve balance. The rope (climbing rope) is also a good tool, one end of the rope will be fixed in the river bank, the other end is tied to the front of the waist, walking in the back of the people will be more secure.
If the water is waist deep, unless the current is particularly slow, it is difficult to move, let alone cross the river. Back to the other side, the body and the river has a tilt angle, the current will help you move to the other side. The step distance should not be too large, dragging your feet. Use a stick to test the depth of the river and detect whether the landing point is reliable. When you have to wade through the rapids, you should prepare thick and long sticks and push them to the rocks in the middle of the river and cross them in a semicircle diagonally with the center. Long pants or mountaineering floating bag can replace the swimming ring, logs or pieces of wood can be put to good use in order to cross the river.
